The Blog

Gratitude Matters

Gratitude Matters. It really does. The idea of practicing gratitude isn’t just a space-taker-upper or a catch phrase, it’s an outlook shifter. Every week in the 365 Tribe, we take a day for gratitude, to name what we’re grateful for in our lives right now, today. It may sound a little woo woo and out there, but the truth is that practicing gratitude has actual tangible effects on us.

When we’re grateful, the people around us feel appreciated and our relationships can improve.

When we’re focused on the positive things in our lives, we’re less likely to fall into the comparison trap, wishing and wanting for what others have and we don’t. We’ve shifted our focus away from that and feel more satisfied with what we already have.

Studies actually show that practicing gratitude before bed can improve the quality of sleep.

Practicing gratitude and focusing on the positive decreases levels of depression and increases overall happiness.

People who practice gratitude are less likely to have physical complaints of pain and discomfort.

Like anything else, gratitude is a practice. You wouldn’t expect to pick up a guitar for the first time and just start playing it, you wouldn’t think that you could just walk up to a barbell and deadlift 200 lbs – practice! It’s no different when it comes to gratitude and inviting a positive outlook into our lives. For many of us, our default sate of being isn’t necessarily to be totally grateful all of the time. Like any other skill we want to get better at we need to practice it regularly. If you could use a boost in positivity then I’ll challenge you right now to come up with three things you’re grateful for. I promise, the more you do it the better you get.